The role of volunteers in hospice bereavement support in New Zealand

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of hospice bereavement vol unteers in New Zealand. Participants included 34 co-ordinators and 121 volu nteers from 26 hospices. Co-ordinators and volunteers were asked about the perceived adequacy of their training, support and deployment. Findings reve aled that most volunteers were recruited through personal contact and newsp apers. They reported being strongly motivated to help others (88%) and most had previous bereavements (71%). Volunteers provided a wide range of berea vement support within the home and/or hospice. They listed twice as many 's atisfying' compared to 'least satisfying' (442 vs 207) aspects of their wor k, although 50% reported their work to be emotionally distressing and 28% h ad problems with 'boundaries'. Two-thirds had generic volunteer training, b ut only a third had specific training in bereavement. Volunteers appeared t o be largely unaware of the need for specialist training, or supervision, w hich raises issues about the quality of services provided.